Can a Managed Support Provider Save You Money? Examining the Cost Benefits

Uneeb KhanFebruary 17, 20240222 views

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Deciding whether to work with a managed services provider (MSP) is an important decision for any business. A good Managed Support Provider can help improve efficiency, free up your internal IT staff, and provide expertise in areas you lack. However, you may wonder if the cost of an MSP is truly justified or if you can get by with your current setup. In this article, we’ll analyze the potential cost benefits of partnering with an MSP to help you make an informed choice for your company.

Table of Contents

The Promise of Effective IT Management

Well-run IT infrastructure is essential for modern businesses. However, proper IT management requires substantial expertise across a range of areas like security, data management, cloud integration, and more. Meeting all these technology needs can be a major challenge for small and medium businesses without a robust in-house IT staff.

Partnering with a managed services provider can make a significant difference. Rather than attempting to handle every IT need yourself or hire specialists for each area, an MSP gives you a team of technology experts ready to manage your environment. This allows your staff to focus less on maintenance and more on innovation and core business initiatives that drive growth.

For example, properly configuring Microsoft Azure Migration for cloud data storage requires specialized skills. Attempting this with limited internal resources could result in missteps and added expenses. However, a quality MSP will seamlessly handle the transition with an eye toward optimization and cost-savings. This frees up your team for higher-value activities.

Analyzing the Costs

At first glance, hiring an outside MSP may seem like an unnecessary expenditure when you already have internal IT staff and infrastructure. However, the savings and optimization provided by the right MSP can lead to substantial long-term cost reduction and increased efficiency. Four key areas where cost savings occur include:

1. Staff Optimization

As mentioned, handing off management and maintenance tasks to an MSP allows your technical team members to focus on projects more critical for driving strategic initiatives and supporting overall business goals. While you still maintain technical staff to handle critical day-to-day operations, they can shift time away from mundane upkeep like patching, monitoring, and help desk operations. This optimization and reallocation of their effort allows your existing technology investment to provide maximum value.

2. Proactive Management

Experienced MSPs adeptly handle the constant changes and shifts in the technology landscape. Through proactive monitoring and maintenance, they spot potential problems early and address them before they cause outages, data loss, or other expensive crises. Think of an MSP as preventative care for your technical infrastructure – by keeping everything running smoothly; they help avoid the much larger “emergency room” bills that result when things go wrong due to delayed updates, misconfigurations, overlooked warning signs in logs/metrics, etc.

3. Volume Purchasing Discounts

Reputable MSPs work with a large number of clients in any given area. Their scale and aggregate buying power across companies enable MSPs to negotiate better critical software and services licensing costs. Those savings get passed on to you. Attempting to get the same discounts with a single company’s purchasing volume is extremely difficult.

4. Technical Expertise Optimization

Expand your technical expertise without expanding headcount. MSP engineers typically possess advanced certifications and experience across a wider variety of platforms than what you may cover with internal staff. This enables them to design more efficient infrastructure and workflows tailored to get the most out of your environment. The depth of knowledge they provide would require hiring several additional expert staff members to handle that level of capability in-house.

Do the Cost Savings Justify the Expense?

For businesses with limited internal capabilities and resources, partnering with an MSP almost always leads to better technology optimization, more efficient processes, and cost savings that justify the expense of the MSP contract. The previously listed factors combine to save money directly and drive productivity and growth through infrastructure that better aligns with business goals.

Of course, the exact cost-benefit depends heavily on the quality of the MSP. This makes provider selection one of the most critical decisions. Base your evaluation on factors like experience supporting companies in your industry, technical expertise across your technology stack, reputation for driving client success, and cost transparency. Though an inferior provider could fail to deliver ROI, the right managed services partner becomes invaluable.

Key Takeaways Here are some key points to remember when considering managed IT services:

Handing off maintenance and mundane tasks to an MSP allows internal staff to focus on innovation and strategic projects rather than routine upkeep.
Proactive management from an experienced provider reduces crises and outages, avoiding significant emergency remediation costs.
MSPs’ buying power and discounts on licensing/services get passed on to clients, reducing ongoing software/hardware costs.
Exceptional technical expertise is available without expanding the internal headcount.
The right MSP delivers optimization, productivity gains, and cost efficiency that substantially outweigh their fees. Becoming a strategic partner to enable growth.

For technology leaders looking to accelerate innovation rather than simply “keep the lights on,” a managed services provider often proves instrumental. Capable of strengthening any weak points in infrastructure without expanding precious internal resources, MSPs become a force multiplier. Proper evaluation and selection require due diligence, as a poor choice fails to return value. However, the growing number of successful partnerships clearly demonstrates the immense upside in finding the right fit.

FAQs

What types of services does a managed support provider typically offer?

Typical services offered by an MSP include help desk support, monitoring and maintenance of networks and devices, backup and disaster recovery, security management, cloud migration assistance, and more. They essentially handle the day-to-day IT operations of a business.

What are the main ways an MSP can save me money?

Cost savings come from maximizing existing IT investments rather than expanding resources to manage growing technology demands. MSPs enhance the efficiency of current staff, prevent expensive outages through proactive care, leverage volume discounts, and fill expertise gaps without additional hires.

How does outsourcing maintenance and mundane IT tasks save money?

When outsourced to an MSP, routine upkeep and mundane tasks no longer monopolize your in-house tech team’s time. These optimizations allow them to concentrate on strategic initiatives supporting business goals with direct revenue and growth impact. Their efforts focus on where they provide the most value.

What discounts can MSPs provide that I may not have access to?

Due to working with various companies and technologies, MSPs gain much higher purchasing volumes than any organization could achieve. This economy of scale allows MSPs to negotiate substantially lower licensing and service costs that smaller companies would struggle to obtain.

Is it risky to let an outside company manage our IT infrastructure?

Established, reputable MSPs undergo rigorous third-party audits and maintain advanced security practices. Failing to secure client data and infrastructure would undermine their entire business model. Top providers have years of experience safely managing IT environments without incident.